SHE once taught aerobics to supermodel Kim Alexis. Now it's Sylvia Sanchez Fisher's turn to be a model. A role model. HPU’s Fisher runs toward another title
And an inspiration.
The 37-year-old Fisher leaves tomorrow for Saturday's NAIA National Cross Country Championships in Kenosha, Wis. What a long, strange trip it's been, one that the Hawaii Pacific runner hopes will culminate in her second collegiate title in seven years.
"This will be my last collegiate race and I'm eager to do the best I can," said Fisher, who was the junior college national champ in 1989 while running for Florida Community College in Jacksonville. "I've told my teammates to give every race their best, to run as if it were their last. You never know if there will be a next one."
In Fisher's case, it was a marriage and a move to Maui that delayed her final collegiate season by six years. She was already late getting out of the starting blocks, not taking up running until 1986.
After losing her full-time job as an aerobics instructor, Fisher vented her frustrations by taking off on a run. In her aerobics shoes.
"I kept running, and crying, and running," Fisher said. "When I came back, I felt pretty good. I kept on running. Another job as an instructor opened up at the health club Kim Alexis owned with her husband. We became good friends.
"I ran my first race, finished second, and thought, 'You know, God gave me something here. If I worked at it, Maybe I'd be good.' "
Six months later, she was good enough to be named the Jacksonville Track Club's Newcomer of the Year. At age 29, she was offered a cross-country scholarship to North Florida.
Circumstances led her to enroll instead at Florida Community College, where Fisher finished 12th at the junior college nationals. The high altitude and cold on Utah's Snake River Canyon course had taken a lot out of her but Fisher filled that hole with one desire.
"I came back, told my coach I wanted to be a national champion and asked him what it would take," Fisher said. "He developed a program, I followed it and became junior college champion."
She transferred to North Florida, placing fourth at the 1990 NAIA nationals at Kenosha. She was named an All-American, both athletically and academically.
"I remember seeing Sylvia at the nationals," HPU coach Happy Chapman said. "I didn't know anyone else there except my runner, Mary Baumgarten. Sylvia stood out. There was something about her, so animated after the race, talking to everyone."
SIX years later, Chapman saw the vibrant Fisher again during a road race here. She had married Bill Fisher and moved to Maui. She also had become very good at road racing, dominating the local distance racing scene.
Fisher, who finished 42nd at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in February, took Chapman up on his scholarship offer. It coincided with her husband's new job as manager of the restored Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu.
Ten days ago, the woman who has been mistaken for an HPU coach on occasion, won the Far West Regional meet at Salem, Ore., by 30 seconds.
"This Saturday," Chapman said, "our plan is to have her run with the leaders and see what happens. It's possible she could win, but I'd be happy with a
Top-10 finish.
"We hope she'll come back as an All-American (the top 30 finishers earn the honor). A coach doesn't like to compare runners but she's a fantastic person and one of the finest runners I've ever coached."
Whatever happens Saturday, Fisher won't disappear from the headlines. She can't wait to turn 40 and take on the masters circuit.
For those feeling as if fitness has passed us by, consider Fisher's words: "So many people say they're too old now. I say set a goal and you'll be more determined to get out that door."
And learn to keep it open.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.